I have several Family Home Evening Lessons posted throughoutthe website. If you would like to see them all indexed, click here. If you would like to submit a lesson e-mail me at melanie@sugardoodle.net

Family Home Evening Strengthens my Family - Hold a bundle of sticks in your hand. Break one of the sticks in half. Tie all the sticks together with string. Show how difficult it is to break the sticks when they are tied together. Tell the children that the sticks represent members of a family. Emphasize that when we are alone we are not as strong as when we are with our family. Explain that family home evening can be like the string that unites and strengthens the family. Teach the children that they can help their family home evenings be successful by helping plan them and willingly participating. Tell the children you are going to help them prepare a story about Joseph Smith's First Vision that they could share during a family home evening. Help them make a simple visual aid they could use to tell the story of the First Vision. (For example: drawings, cutouts, or finger puppets. See resources below.) Using the same visual aid the children have prepared, briefly tell the story of the First Vision (see Joseph Smith—History 1:5–20). Then invite one or two children to tell the story using their visual aids. Explain that music is an important part of family home evening and that you are going to teach a song they can use during their home evenings. Teach the third verse of "On a Golden Springtime" (p. 88). Bear testimony of the importance of family home evening in strengthening our families. Encourage the children to tell the story and teach the song in an upcoming family home evening (with their parents' permission). For older children: See the second activity under "Learning and Living the Gospel" in the Faith in God booklet, page 6. Resources for visuals of Joseph Smith's First Vision: Behold Your Little Ones (nursery manual), lesson 21; "Joseph Smith's First Vision," Friend, Mar. 2008, 48; "Joseph Smith's First Vision," Friend, Oct. 1991, 16–17. (Idea taken from the July 2009 Sharing Time)